Conservative Republicans are painting Latino immigrants as Ebola carriers to fan the anti-immigration reform movement , but health experts say those fears are grossly overstated .

Officials say there have been no reported cases of Ebola-infected migrants entering the United States through Mexico and border authorities reject claims that the border is not secure . Still many politicians continue to raise the alarm , seeking to derail immigration reform -- already delayed several times by Congress and the President .

On Thursday , former Massachusetts senator and now New Hampshire Senate candidate Scott Brown said that he does n't want undocumented immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border because they might be carrying Ebola .

`` One of the reasons why I 've been so adamant about closing our border , because if people are coming through normal channels -- can you imagine what they can do through our porous borders ? '' Brown said in a radio interview .

Republican candidate Thom Tillis , running for a Senate seat in North Carolina , said in a debate on Tuesday that the United States should seal its border with Mexico to prevent the spread of Ebola , while Rand Paul , the Kentucky senator and potential presidential candidate in 2016 , said last week that the southern border is not secure enough to keep out Ebola .

The countries most affected by the virus are Sierra Leone , Guinea and Liberia in West Africa . According to Carl Meacham , director of the America 's program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies , the largest communities of West Africans in Latin America can be found in Brazil and the Caribbean -- not Central America , where the majority of immigrants who illegally cross the border are from .

Julio Varela , founder of Latino Rebels , an opinionated Latino-issues website , questioned the motivation of such fears .

`` I am starting to think that this is all some kind of mix-and-match game of fear , '' he said . `` You take the most extreme examples of xenophobic hysteria -- Mexicans , terrorists , ISIS , the border crisis and Ebola -- and mash them all together to create a new narrative of craziness , '' he added .

The Ebolification of immigration reform has been going on for months .

In July , Georgia Republican Rep. Phil Gingrey , a medical doctor , wrote a letter to Dr. Thomas Frieden , director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , expressing his concern that the influx of families and unaccompanied minors at the U.S.-Mexico border could pose a grave public health risk .

`` Reports of illegal migrants carrying deadly diseases such as swine flu , dengue fever , Ebola virus and tuberculosis are particularly concerning , '' he wrote .

Unaccompanied migrant children posed a particular risk , he said , because they could spread the disease too quickly to be controlled , once in the United States . He urged the CDC to immediately assess the situation and notify the public of risks .

During an August hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee 's subcommittee on Africa , Frieden dismissed the possibility of Ebola reaching the United States via the southern border . `` That is not happening , '' he said .

Other health officials agree with Frieden . They call threats , like the one Gingrey describes , as farfetched .

There has never been an outbreak of Ebola in Latin America , said Dr. Anthony Fauci , director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases . That makes it extremely unlikely for a child or adult entering the United States via Mexico to be infected with the disease .

Unswayed by the medical community 's assertions of safety , far-right conservative politicians and their sympathizers have gone even further .

Fox News host Chris Wallace suggested that an Ebola infested terrorist could enter through the southern border and wage biological warfare . Meanwhile , Arkansas Republican Rep. Tom Cotton , currently running for Senate , said that terror groups are collaborating with drug cartels in Mexico .

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson denied these allegations Thursday and warned against creating fear and anxiety in the public by passing on speculation and rumor .

Some Latino Republicans have tried to distance themselves from the Ebola and ISIS border fears .

`` I am saddened to see some conservatives use fear of deadly diseases to push an immigration restriction agenda . Their claims are generally vastly overblown and I am especially disappointed in Rep. Phil Gingrey , who is a medical doctor and should know better , '' said Bob Quasius , president of Café Con Leche Republicans .

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Conservatives claim Latino immigrants can carry Ebola

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Health experts say those accusations are overstated

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Several Republican candidates suggest the U.S. should seal the border with Mexico